-
The Beginning of the FIght
The demand for women's suffrage began to gather in the 1840s, emerging from the broader movement for women's rights. -
First womens rights convention
The first gathering devoted to women’s rights in the United States was held July 19–20, 1848, in Seneca Falls, New York. The principal organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention were Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a mother of four from upstate New York, and the Quaker abolitionist Lucretia Mott.1 About 100 people attended the convention; two-thirds were women. Stanton drafted a “Declaration of Sentiments, Grievances, and Resolutions,” that echoed the preamble of the Declaration of Independence. -
First National womens rights convention
By the time of the first National Woman's Rights Convention in 1850, however, suffrage was becoming an increasingly important aspect of the movement's activities. -
The first national suffrage organizations were established in 1869.
The first national suffrage organizations were established in 1869 when two competing organizations were formed, one led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the other by Lucy Stone. -
Suffragists made several attempts to vote in the 1870’s and filed lawsuits when they were turned away.
Hoping the U.S. Supreme Court would rule that women had a constitutional right to vote, suffragists made several attempts to vote in the early 1870s and then filed lawsuits when they were turned away -
Anthony succeeded in voting, but was arrested for that act and found guilty.
Anthony actually succeeded in voting in 1872 but was arrested for that act and found guilty in a widely publicized trial that gave the movement fresh momentum. -
Supreme Court ruled against the suffragists. Suffragists began the decades-long campaign for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would enfranchise women.
After the Supreme Court ruled against them in 1875, suffragists began the decades-long campaign for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would enfranchise women. Much of the movement's energy, however, went toward working for suffrage on a state-by-state basis. -
, Alice Paul formed a group called the National Woman's Party (NWP).
In 1916 Alice Paul formed the National Woman's Party (NWP), a militant group focused on the passage of a national suffrage amendment. -
200 NWP supporters were arrested while picketing the White House.
Over 200 NWP supporters were arrested in 1917 while picketing the White House, some of whom went on hunger strike and endured forced feeding after being sent to prison. Under the leadership of Carrie Chapman Catt, the two-million-member NAWSA also made a national suffrage amendment its top priority. -
THe Nineteenth Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution.
After a hard-fought series of votes in the U.S. Congress and in state legislatures, the Nineteenth Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution on August 20, 1920. It states, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."
